My mom was a gynecologist in the Aden Refinery Company hospital till 1986 just after the civil war. We used to spend our summers there. A beautiful home by the Bay ( Tiger Hill Beach), a nice garden in the front, bougainvillea trellis facing the verandah and the sounds of the waves.
Early mornings were very pleasant, with a breeze that picks up the scents of the sand, sea and the fragrant flowers.

A jog along the C shaped beach looking for assorted stuff that were brought up by the tides, and in the afternoon, a swim in the Red Sea and skipping on the blistering hot sands, crossing the black tar road and into a refreshing shower and cooling off under the AC vent. Thursdays and Fridays, the beach in front of the house used to be fairly crowded with Russians and was almost unusable.

The housekeeper was a Somali lady who had 2 daughters Amina & Ayesha and her son Abdul who lived behind our house. I remember the tall Yagi antenna that I used to fiddle with to get a clear Aden TV station and a noisy Sanaa TV station.

I remember the man who used to sell fish and my mom haggling with him, he used to give in to her, “Dattura, khateer Mukh”, the Suzuki mini vans used as transport to the hospital and back, and we used to visit the DollarShop (Khor Maksr?) and the duty free shop in Crater?

Early in the morning we used to walk to Kadri and buy stuff but mostly enjoyed the Tamar which has now almost become a staple.

There was an Italian priest that ran a church/chapel service at that time for the fairly large group of young Filipino nurses.

The garden was very productive, mom used to raise different kinds of vegetables and saved them in the long freezer for use throughout the year.

The address was sabahtahsharh 17 Cornische AlGadhir; Little Aden, PDR Yemen. tel: (7344 sabah thalatha arbah arbah)

Email: Deccantrishank@yahoo.com